Beat Stress, Eat Healthy Office Meals: 8 Steps to Recover from Your Summer Vacation
Posted by Sara on Monday, August 18th, 2014 with Comments Off on Beat Stress, Eat Healthy Office Meals: 8 Steps to Recover from Your Summer Vacation Comments
Sipping margaritas by the pool, heading out for happy hour at the trendiest bars, enjoying a mimosa (or two) with a brunch buffet: does this sound like how you spent your summer vacation?
If you’re like most of us, you let yourself indulge while you’re traveling – and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with doing so. The point of vacation is to relax, after all, and enjoy every well-earned minute of your time away from the daily grind of work. But when you head back to the office, it can be hard to get back your regular, healthy routine. Good habits are hard to form, but easy to break… and so you may find it more difficult to pass on more tempting office meals – like pizza and cupcakes in the break room – after a week of eating whatever you like.
Good-bye margarita, hello to the daily grind – and your healthy office routine.
Image source: Flickr user smadden
Get back into the swing of healthy eating – especially healthy eating at the office – with these tips for vacation recovery:
1) Don’t skip meals – especially breakfast. Start your first day back to the office with a healthy breakfast, and you’ll mentally reset your eating routine for the rest of the day. Even if you don’t have time to cook, you can easily have oatmeal with fresh berries, a container of Greek yogurt, whole-wheat toast with nut butter or avocado, or a hard-boiled egg with an apple at your desk as you start to go through the inbox.
2) Treat every lunch for your first week back like an opportunity to make up for lost time: vegetable time, that is. Since you were likely eating less fresh veggies on vacation, try to make your mid-day office meals primarily plant-based. That could mean a hearty salad with just a bit of tuna, a lentil-and-chickpea dish from the Indian place, or even a healthy, thin-crust margherita pie topped with fresh arugula from the gourmet pizza place.
3) Make time for exercise, even if it’s simply a brisk walk while you take a long phone call or avoiding the elevator for a week. Every little bit of activity and movement will help you burn off the excess calories you enjoyed on vacation. Plus, you may find that returning to the routine of sitting at your desk all day leaves you feeling antsy – so a literal change of pace will be good for your mental health, too.
4) Count your calories. If you’re truly worried about putting on pounds during your vacation, then it might be worth your while to chart a food diary for a few weeks as you get back into a healthier routine. Smartphone apps make it easier than ever to track every bite of food you eat – because yes, those hard candies and half-a-cupcake can really add up!
5) Drink plenty of water. Between drinking extra alcohol and hectic travel schedules, it’s easy to become a little dehydrated during vacation. Make it up to yourself by sipping water all day at your desk (and avoiding empty-calorie-laden sodas at the same time).
6) Try to eat less salt. Sodium is a key culprit behind feeling bloated, so if your favorite office attire is fitting a little snugly when you return from vacation, consuming less salt will help you feel back to normal more quickly. Forego the soy sauce when you order sushi, and make a special request from your favorite takeout place… because the truth is, many restaurants tend to be heavy-handed when it comes to salt. Fresh herbs and a squeeze of lemon can help replace the flavor lost with the salt shaker.
7) Have a few healthy snacks on hand. Keep almonds, fresh fruit, or string cheese within easy reach, or immediately set aside a small portion of your lunch for afternoon sustenance in the face of a 3 pm craving. This will help you avoid the vending machine late in the day, and can even keep you on a healthy track as you leave the office and head out to dinner.
8) Seek out stress-fighting foods. Sometimes, returning to work can be so busy you might regret taking a vacation in the first place, so give yourself every advantage by ordering lunches that feature foods known to combat stress and anxiety. Look for meals rich in omega-3 fatty acids (salmon, tuna), B-vitamins (chickpeas, lentils, dark leafy greens), complex carbohydrates (oatmeal, whole grain pasta), and vitamin C (red bell peppers, strawberries, and citrus fruits).
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